Life in the Farplain
by Karin Starsen
Summary: Lots of people dieing on Spira... and the people of Destiny island are scattered again! What's going on? The heartless are back, but Sora is nowhere to be found, and the people in the farplain might be the only ones who can save the universe!
1. The end for the gullwings

**Disclaimer: I, the person who is writing under the name of Karin Starsen, am NOT stealing these characters. I am NOT stealing a story line, and I am most defiantly NOT stealing their creative worlds and creations. All of this does NOT belong to me… I am simply using there great creation to write my interpretation of a story. But I will NOT have anyone steal from ME either… thank you. **

**Authors note: **

_Any character that I find suitable from either a video game, tv show or whatever I am going to put in here. I wanted to mix them all, you know? I will mostly have final fantasy characters. Suggestions will be considered, but will most likely not be used. Sorry! Please R&R)_

**Life in the Farplane –Chapter one**

Yuna's eyes flutter open to a brightly lit… what was? A sky? Whatever it was, it was bright. She sits up, and she's in a beautiful field of flowers… she's been there before. Her eyes widened. She was on the farplane. She sat up quickly and pulled up her arm to stare at it. It slowly faded so she could see a bright red flower through it, then came back into density.

"I'm… I'm…"

"Dead?"

Yuna scrambled to her feet and turned around to see Ansem standing behind. The malice in his eyes was gone, and he seemed to be… happy.

"Don't worry, you get used to it quickly," he assured her.

"W-who are you?" she asked.

"Hold on, it will come to you," he said.

She looked at him in a confused way; then a voice spoke in her head. _Ansem…leader of heartless… _

"What are…"

"Shush! It will come!"

_Heartless… shadow demons…_

"Shadow demons. Does that mean you're evil?" she asked, putting her hand to her side to see if her gun was there. It was, and she rested her fingers on it gently.

"Don't fret. After death, I saw my wrong doing… I am no longer that way," he answered cheerfully. "Moving on, I came here to say welcome. Welcome to the life of the farplane."

"Don't you mean death?" Yuna asked.

Ansem turned around and took a step, Yuna put her hand out, but froze as he turned his head back. Something flashed in his eyes.

"You'll see."

"Come back! I have so many questions!" Yuna cried.

"Then why don't you follow?"

Yuna thought about it. _What do you have to lose? _She stepped forward and followed Ansem through the field that seemed to last forever. But it didn't; it ended abruptly and Yuna swore she didn't see it coming. The came to a forest. In the distance she could see a cliff, and a huge waterfall cascading down the rocks. She gasped in aw, but Ansem didn't even turn his head.

The path through the forest was elaborate with many side paths splitting off here and there. The path was lined with glowing white stones that seemed so pure, like nothing was wrong. The trees were large and majestic, and the leaves were emerald green. The trunks were white, with brown streaks smudging the perfection of the bark. Curving around the bottom of the trees was grass that grew no taller or shorter than the pieces next to it. Everything seemed to be so clean, and perfect. Bliss swept over Yuna quickly, forgetting the situation she had been in, in Spira. Forgotten who else had died.

The duo came to a line of weeping willow trees with white trunks. The branches and leaves obscured her vision, and she couldn't see beyond them. Her heart fluttered with excitement as Ansem put his hand through the branches and pulled them back for her to see. Again she gasped, and put her hand to her mouth. She slowly stepped forward in shock. It was beautiful!

She had stepped into a huge glass dome that displayed bits and pieces of color like a rainbow every now and then. Underneath the dome was a silver city. Tall buildings, short buildings… they were all made of shining silver. She slowly walked into a street, full of people that had died. They all looked perfectly happy, and everything was so peaceful. There was a dull roar of the massive crowd, but there was no anger anywhere. All the people were wearing white, and they had no shoes on. Two small children passed by, ruffling Yuna's skirt.

_Skirt? _She looked down, and sure enough, she had on a long flowing skirt that went down to about her ankles. Her shirt was white with an intricate silver trim; it was tight and had one sleeve. Her hair wrap was now sparkly silver, and she felt that her soft leather boots had disappeared also. She turned around to ask Ansem, but he was gone. In his place was both a disgruntled Paine, and a confused Rikku. Now Yuna remembered what had happened. They had failed… the fiend had killed them… Rikku spotted her first.

Yunie!" She cried, running forward to give her cousin the biggest hug of her life. Paine followed closely behind. Rikku was wearing a white bikini with silver beads hanging down to her bellybutton, and she had silver shorts on. Paine wore a one-strapped dress that had a slit that went to her hip, and the bottom hem went to a few inches above her knees. Around her neck was a silver chocker.

"Rikku!" Yuna cried, hugging her back. "Paine! You… you didn't make it either…"

"I wish that I could say that I'm glad to see you…" Paine said. "But I don't think that would be quite right…"

Yuna laughed a little. "I know what you mean." She let go of Rikku. "I'm glad to see that you made it. Both of you."

The tears all three of them cried could have filled a bucket, but they eventually came back to the present… and where they were supposed to live. Rikku, still a little dazed, pointed to a young woman with a light brown braid winding down her back, and two tendrils of hair framing her face.

"That girl!" she cried out. "She was in my dream last night… back on earth! Maybe she knows what we are supposed to do…"

Yuna nodded. "Maybe… let's go ask."

There was a hint of curiosity in her voice as she said that. It drove her two friends onward with slightly shaky steps towards the young woman. She woman was facing a small bed of white flowers, she had her finger on her chin as if pondering what to do next. Yuna tapped her on the shoulder.

"Urm… excuse me, but we…"

The woman turned around quickly. Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw Rikku. "Oh! I visited last night! I didn't think you three would be here this quickly," the woman said in a soft voice. "My name is Aeris." She smiled brightly and sweetly. The three friends felt instantly welcome. "Let me show you around."


	2. Here comes Xander

**Disclaimer:**_ I, the person who is writing under the name of Karin Starsen, am NOT stealing these characters. I am NOT stealing a story line, and I am most defiantly NOT stealing their creative worlds and creations. All of this does NOT belong to me… I am simply using there great creation to write my interpretation of a story. But I will NOT have anyone steal from ME either… thank you. _

**Authors note:**

Okay, right. In answer to the thing about the mix up with Earth and Spira, I always think of Spira as more of a country… since I have a lot of different stories diverged into this one, they're all from earth, but their weird places are countries… With the exceptions of the different worlds in Kingdom hearts. Thank you! Oh yeah, and sorry that I haven't written in a long time and sorry that this is a short chapter. I'm still trying to work things out in my head. Thank you reviewers, please review some more! Enjoy!

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Riku's semi-transparent form stood and stretched in the morning light of the farplane. He yawned, and his silvery hair shook slightly as he did so. He looked to his desk where there was a white framed picture of Sora and Kairi. His Memboras. As long as the people in the picture were in color, they were still in the living world. Riku looked to the other pictures. His mom was doing well, along with his dad. The other kids of the island, except Tidis, were okay. Lastly he looked to the picture of his brother and sister. His brother's hair was just like his, silver… but there was something strange… The silver sheen seemed to be a little dulled… and his dark blue shirt… it was grey.

Grey.

His brother had come to join him in this world. Riku turned straight to his door and didn't waste time trying to be more real by opening it. He, instead, walked right through. He was only half dead… he was transparent in the living world. Every now and then, he felt the pull of the living world come at him. He was still stuck in kingdom hearts, and he knew that someday Sora would try to save him. But he wasn't sure he wanted to be saved… _But I defiantly want to be part of the final battle, _he thought with a smile. _But now, I have to find Xander…_

People in the street turned to see his silvery figure dash through the crowd. He had to find the entrance. The city was growing larger day by day, though they were never running out of room. Nobody really knew how the farplane worked, but they didn't care most of the time. They figured it was better not to know. Riku, on the other hand, thought about the odd world often. How did it all work? Normally, he would slowly walk down the street, pondering how new buildings were created in seconds everyday. He never figured it out. It was strange, one moment the bakery and the strange old ladies house were touching side to side, and the next moment there was a new house in-between them. His mind could never rest, in this world he was always asking why. Like now, _Why is Xander here? He's only 19! _

Riku felt a sudden shift in his cells. He felt like he was being torn into two.

"Agh!" He cried, falling to his knees. People rushed around him, gasping and asking what was wrong. He tried to answer, but found himself talking in the real world. His real world visions started to kick in. He saw a bright light…it started as a crack, then opened wider. And wider… A figure blocked the way, it was a large shadow demon. "No!" Riku yelled in kingdom hearts. His vision came back to the far plane.

"No!" Riku screamed. "How?"

Riku was staring into the face of a woman. She had black hair with braids coming down. Her bangs brushed roughly to one side of her face. Her lips were adorned with black lipstick and she wore a black dress held together with what looked like belts.

"Is there something I can help you with?" she asked in a tone that wasn't angry, but not all too pleasant either.

"I… I…"Riku stuttered, standing up. "I have to find my brother!"

"Well, if he is a new arrival he will be at the gate shortly," the woman said, crossing her arms.

"Thanks Miss," Riku said, turning around and pushing through the crowd that had gathered to find the gate.

"My name's Lulu!" she called after him. "And you're welcome Riku!"

_How does she know my name? _Riku wondered as he ran towards the gate. His silver and white tunic flapped in the breeze he created. He had on white shorts and a silver star tattooed to his transparent skin.

At the entrance Riku halted abruptly and searched his surroundings frantically for his brother's face. Where was he? Does he look just like the picture? How was he? Was Penny in danger?

"Riku?"

He whirled around to be staring straight at his brother. Xander was a bit taller than him, tanner with deep blue eyes like the ocean. His silver hair gleamed in the rainbowy sunlight of the glass dome. It matched that of the silver houses surrounding them. Riku gave is brother a hug, which Xander returned. They stopped.

"Riku… What's happened to you?" Xander asked in a deeper voice than Riku's.

"I should be asking the same question," Riku replied in his normal sing song voice with a coy smile. Then he frowned. "Is Penny okay?"

Xander didn't show much expression. "I…I really don't know. Let's say I had a long fall… but that isn't important right now. What happened to you?"

"It's a long story, Xander…brother… I don't have time right now. Let's just say, technically I'm not dead. I'll explain it all later after you tell me what has happened to Penny. Is she, or is she not alright?"

"That, dear brother," Xander said putting his hand on Riku's shoulder. "Is a long story. Lead me to where you live… I think I need to sit down."


	3. Explanations

**Disclaimer:**_ I, the person who is writing under the name of Karin Starsen, am NOT stealing these characters. I am NOT stealing a story line, and I am most defiantly NOT stealing their creative worlds and creations. All of this does NOT belong to me… I am simply using there great creation to write my interpretation of a story. But I will NOT have anyone steal from ME either… thank you. _

**Authors note:**

Thank you for the wonderful reviews. I know that everything is confusing right now, but I think I have everything pretty set out in my mind, so things should START running a little bit smoother. The beginning of this chapter is going to explain how Lulu died, but… I don't think I'm going to stray on that thought for long. Please tell me if I make spelling errors. Thank you! ((I'm more likely to update with more reviews!))

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Lulu sighed as she watched the boy run off towards the gate. She turned and glared at everyone staring behind her. Nosy people.

"There is nothing wrong here, you may all move along now," she said icily.

The people's eyes strayed off to other places as they quickly shuffled along. Lulu walked slowly down the street in the direction of her house.

_Poor child. He was so young when he died… Well, he isn't technically dead. But his brother died? Poor kid… _she thought with another sigh. _No chance for his mother to watch him grow up._

Lulu looked down at her empty arms. She often wondered why she was there. She knew how she had died, but she knew how utterly unfair it was. _I never even got to… _she thought.

"Lulu!"

She didn't turn around, because she knew he would catch up to her anyway. She would have smiled, but she wasn't in the mood.

"Hello Lulu. How are you today?" Asked Chappu, walking up next to her. He put his arm around her shoulder, and she surprisingly didn't shrug it off. She took a deep breath and leaned into his side a she walked, causing them to be off balance for only a moment.

"Well," she answered bluntly. "And you?"

"Good, good…"

There was silence, and Chappu knew that something was bothering her. "Lulu… what's wrong?"

She shut her house door behind her and Chappu turned around to face her inside. She was crying. He quickly ran forward and hugged her.

"I saved him, Chappu… I saved my own child… But I never got to see if he made it home. I won't be able to watch him grow up. I don't even know if he ran away or not!"

"Lulu!" he said rubbing her back to calm her. "Lulu… you saved his life. He will always remember you for that. He may not go home, but he will grow up with you in his life always. When you sacrificed yourself to give him one last shot at the black demon, you saved him Lulu. And your heart is still with him."

"I know…" Lulu said, wiping the tears from her eyes. "I can still feel my heart beat with his sometimes. I just don't think it's supposed to, Chappu… I feel like I'm not all gone, and I feel him there. But I can't see him. What is wrong?"

"Nothing… that is just how much you love your son, Lulu. That's just how much you care."

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"And this is one of the many bakeries," Aeris said with yet another cheery smile. "We don't have to eat, but we often enjoy doing things from the real world every now and then."

"You mean Spira, right?" said Paine.

Aeris gave them a confused look for a moment, then something seemed to click in her head and she smiled her average smile again. "Oh! You're all from Spira… You see… Spira is not the entire… the entire planet," she said, obviously struggling with her explanation. "Spira is only a part of the planet. A continent."

"What!" all three girls chimed.

"Spira is the home of all the dead people in the universe. Only the people of spira can know about the farplane… or there would be great havoc amongst the worlds of the universe. So the pyriflies create an invisible border. Nothing can go into Spira, and nothing is allowed to come out."

The girls were shocked.

"But… but…" Yuna stammered.

"We were sheltered all of our lives! There were millions of more people out there!" Rikku cried out.

Paine was expressionless, and didn't say anything.

"I'm sorry if this is bad news to you," Aeris said pleasantly. "But there really isn't anything you can do about it. You should just except it and let is be what is."

The girls calmed down and nodded.

"So… can you show us where we are supposed to stay?" asked Yuna politely.

"Sure!"

Aeris turned around and walked cheerfully down the crowded street. Yuna, Rikku and Paine followed with a million thoughts buzzing through their heads. _Than how did that black fiend get into Spira? _They all thought simultaneously, but kept their thoughts to themselves.

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Riku sat crookedly on a silver chair while Xander sat with his feet stretched out on the couch. Riku shook his head and rested it in his hands, with his elbows on his knees.

"So you're saying that Penny was attacked by a heartless?" Riku asked Xander for a final time.

"I don't know! It was huge, and black and it had a hole where it's heart should be. I figured it was a heartless."

"That explains what I saw…" said Riku. "The door has slowly been opening! This isn't good… what planet were you on?"

"We were back on destiny island. I was gathering some coconuts when I heard sister scream. I ran to the backside of the island, and I didn't see her anywhere. Instead there was a massive heartless. I tried to attack it with my chain whip. Nobody goes around without weapons anymore, Kairi told us not to."

Riku couldn't help but smile at the use of his friends name, but it vanished when the thought occurred to him that she was stuck on the island with heartless.

"… but the heartless was far too large, and far too strong for me. I tried Riku, really I did… but…"

"That's okay Xander. But how do you know that Penny is alright?"

"I don't. I just figured that she was because she didn't appear there with me. And I didn't want to worry right away. I haven't seen you in a year Riku… I would ask how you've been, but I'm not so sure that that is an appropriate question at the moment," Xander said with a sideways smile.

Riku chuckled a bit. "As you can see, I'm only mostly dead. Which means I'm slightly alive," he said. (SC: Yes, I did get that from a movie.)

"How does that work anyway?"

"I'm not quite sure. I suppose since I'm stuck in Kingdom Hearts, I'm not really supposed to be alive or else the heartless there would kill me. One day I'm going to have to choose if I want to live or stay here."

"Choose to live," Xander said bluntly.

"What!" Riku said, sitting up shocked. "Why would you say that!"

"I couldn't take care of Penny… I don't want to leave her alone. You still have a chance to protect her, so please… go do it. Besides, I'm here to take care of your house while you're gone," Xander said. He always knew the perfect time to crack a joke. Riku chuckled.

"You're right Xander. It wouldn't be fair to her if I stayed here."


	4. Finding a Jem

**Disclaimer:**_ I, the person who is writing under the name of Karin Starsen, am NOT stealing these characters. I am NOT stealing a story line, and I am most defiantly NOT stealing their creative worlds and creations. All of this does NOT belong to me… I am simply using there great creation to write my interpretation of a story. But I will NOT have anyone steal from ME either… thank you. _

**Authors Note**

Don't be confused! I'm introducing a new character, and he isn't from anything… so he IS MINE! No touchy or I'll sue big time… oh, and everything else is theirs I suppose… waves hand dismissivly whatever, enjoy!

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Kairi woke up, blinking her eyes lazily. Where was she? She sat up and saw a fire inside of a stone woodstove. She looked to her left and saw that she was in a small room with a table. She turned around and saw a counter with a man standing behind.

"Oh!" she gasped quickly getting to her feet. "I- I didn't see you there!"

"That's alright little missy," the blonde man says. "The name's Cid. I found you outside about an hour ago… I haven't seen so many refugees since… well, the heartless."

"You know about the heartless!" Kairi sad, running forward to the counter.

"Well heck yeah! This is Traverse Town, the place that most refugees from other worlds land. Who are you?"

"I'm Kairi. I think I remember it here now."

"Huh, what'da mean by that?"

"I was here once. Well, not exactly me- I was sort of with Sora. A friend of mine."

"Ha! Sora! I haven't seen him in ages. Since the heartless left actually… You were with him? I thought he was looking for his friends," Cid said, scratching his head.

"He had my heart…"

He have her a confused look.

"Uhm, nevermind… you mentioned not having seen this many refugees since the heartless. Are… are they back?"

"Why don't you tell me. Your world obviously isn't there anymore."

"Yeah, I remember… Oh my gosh! Penny!" Kairi cried. She turned and ran out the door into the street.

"Wait!" Cid yelled after her, running to the door. "You forgot your knife!"

But Kairi was already pushing through the doors to the third district. Cid let his hand holding the knife fall to his side. "Poor girl," he muttered.

Kairi ran blindly into the third district, and straight into someone. She flew off her feet onto the ground. She groaned and sat up rubbing her head. A boy stood there holding out his hand. She grabbed it and he helped her to her feet. She was still staring into his deep green eyes. His black hair fell to about halfway down his ear, or a little shorter. A few strands stuck up around his head, and some fell over his eyes the tips resting on his cheeks.

He wore a baggy black shirt with many large wrinkles, but somehow it still showed his slim figure. The sleeveless top show muscular arms, as if he practiced fighting on an everyday basis. He wore a thin gray scarf around his neck that almost reached his feet. His pants were black, and baggy like the shirt held up with a silver belt.

"Hello," he said in a cheerful voice, a surprise for his looks. He smiled somewhat sweetly. "My name is Jembore, but you may call me Jem."

"I-I…" Kairi stuttered. _Why am I stuttering? It's never been so hard for me to talk to a guy before… _"I'm sorry!" she blurted out.

Jem laughed. "It's okay! Just be glad I didn't do anything rash, at first I thought you were another heartless! Just please, tell me your name…"

"I'm… Kairi."

_Why is my heart beating so fast…?_

He kissed her hand, causing Kairi to blush. "Pleased to meet you Kairi. Now tell me, what is a pretty lady like you doing out here?"

_Why did I blush? I like Sora!... and Riku… but that's beside the point! I can't add another one on…_

"I'm looking for my friend, Penny. We just landed here, Destin… I mean our world, it was destroyed by the heartless! I don't know where she is…"

_Or can I… It's my decision…_

"Penny did you say?"

_No! I'm insane, I just met this freak! What's with all the black clothing... I don't see any weapons on him…_

"Yes, have you heard of her?" Kairi asked hopefully.

"Why yes I have! Infact, she's staying in the hotel room next to me and my brother."

"Please! Lead the way, I promised that I would look after her!"

"Oh, she's quite capable of looking after herself, pretty handy with a whip that girl is…" he rubbed the back of his neck as if remembering something painful. Kairi suppressed a giggle, she knew that Penny had some skill. He turned his body but kept his head facing her. "Oh, and by the way… I figured I would lead the way anyway… seeing that you're still holding my hand."

He winked his lovely green eyes, then was off at a run before Kairi could drop her jaw. _Sora is the one I like, _she told herself. _It's Sora! He saved me…_

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Yuna, Paine and Rikku each sat in a white, fluffy chair all facing the a small glass coffee table at the center of the room. Paine slammed her fist on the table, causing the others to jump out of there trance. She was staring at the table, her fist shaking.

"It's just not fair!" she cried out in anguish. "Why us! Why that fiend! Yuna, just think of all the people… they'll all be so sad that you're dea…"

"Paine!" Rikku shot out of her chair, staring angrily at her friend. Paine looked up at Yuna, her head was in her hands and she was staring absently at the wall. Paine lifted her hands back into her lap.

"Sorry…"

Rikku sighed and sat back in her chair. "I know what you mean," she murmered. "Things have finally changed so much, that there isn't a way for us to change them back. What… what will we do?"

"There is nothing that we can do… I don't think I'll ever see black again," she said, looking around the sparkling white/glass/crystal room. Outside the window there were more white trees…

Rikku rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "Just close your eyes, dummy!"

Paine closed her eyes, then smiled sheepishly. "Haha… oh yeah…"

Yuna shook her head as if she just woke up. She looked at her friends. "I think I know why we are here…" she said.

"Why is that?"

"I think that we were meant to be here… because I think we are supposed to investigate this whole thing. About the black demon. I think that our death was set up… because…"

"Because whoever set this up, must think that we are the only ones from Spira that can stop this. So that's why we are here," Paine finished for her. Rikku's eyes widened.

"So you mean that our death was intentional? And we walked right into it!" she cried. "And they still think that we are supposed to save the world… again?"

All three girls looked at each other, and laughed. Really laughed, and they all felt better. Because now they knew what to do.


	5. Getting ready for an adventure

A.N.

(Answering reviews… sorta)

Trust me, I never stole the 'Spira is part of earth things' because I've never read your stories before! I always just thought that… well Spira couldn't be the whole world! They traveled way too fast! And this isn't supposed to have a lot of romance in it, it's not supposed be that kind of story. But it's building up… Tidus is coming! (That's why I said he died on Riku's part when he found out his brother died!)

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Paine and Chappu were walking through the streets, holding hands. It was another glorious day in the farplain, and the two lovers were breathing in the crisp air, and soaking in the soft sunshine.

"Hey!"

The two looked up to see a blonde boy waving from within the crowd. He seemed to be standing on his toes, trying to see over the crowd. Lulu chuckled. _Same old Tidus…_

"Hey!" Chappu said, waving in return. The two headed towards him. Though they were alike, Lulu was still surprised by how much Chappu and Tidus had gotten along. They were close to best friends.

They were now next to each other, and they saw the look on Tidus's face. They couldn't tell if he was sad, or excited. But he defiantly had something important to say.

"What's wrong?" Lulu asked with concern.

"Have you two checked your memboras lately?" he asked.

Lulu and Chappu looked at each other, they hadn't. "No… not lately. Why?"

"I checked mine this morning," he said, sounding a little bit worried. "Yuna and Rikku! They're… grey!"

She was shocked. "Grey!" she exclaimed. "But… but why? She's so young! How could this happen? Both of them? I wonder if Paine is alright too…"

"Paine?" Tidus asked, confused.

"You'll meet her someday," Lulu said.

"I just hope that 'someday' isn't today," Chappu added. He didn't know Paine either, but he still didn't want anyone else dieing. "Why don't we go check your Membora, Lulu?"

Lulu nodded. "Okay," she said in her normal, emotionless tone. "Let's hope that what Tidus saw was just his eyes playing tricks on him."

The three walked towards Lulu's street, all with silent acceptance of each other. Lulu doubted that Tidus would lie, or run out to find them rashly. He must of looked at the picture hundreds of times before coming to find them, and Memboras never lie. _So this is your fate? _she asked Yuna in her mind. _To die this young, both of you, was not a natural death._

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"KAIRI!" yelled a very ecstatic Penny. "Oh gosh! You're here! I can't believe it!"

The silver haired girl literally jumped onto Kairi, causing her to fall over. _Geez! She's like a dog! _Kairi giggled.

"Gosh! What did you feed her!" Kairi asked sarcastically, giving her friend a hug. Penny stood, then helped her up. "I'm so glad you're okay, Penny. But I'm afraid you've been dragged into something much larger than you think."

"Psh," Penny said dismissivly. "I heard the stories, from you of course. Things can't be that worse, can they?"

Kairi was just silent, and Jem looked to the floor. There was another boy in the room. He looked exactly like Jem! Except his hair was a dark, dark blue and he wore a lot of white clothing. On the way there, Jem had told her that his name was Venbar, or just Ven for short.

"Is it worse," Penny asked. She quieted down a lot, knowing that the mood in the room was serious. Kairi hated seeing her like this. Penny was an extremely hyper girl, always happy and always playing or joking around. But when the mood got serious, she did too. In a way, she was a bit like Riku.

"It's worse Penny. But you can't let that get you down. Last time I had to stand by and watch as Sora saved the universe, and me. Now, I think it's our turn to take part."

"You knew Sora?" Jem asked excitedly. Kairi nodded. "Wow! He's like, a legend, on my world now. He saved us, when we were all powerless to help him. My brother and I devoted our lives to training, and now… look where it got us." He gestured around the hotel room. "We're here, and still alive. If you are going to fight this evil, please, let us help you."

Penny smiled, happy again. "Yes Kairi! We can trust these guys, they helped me out! I think they'd be useful. But they could use a little more training against me," she winked at Kairi. Kairi giggled again.

"I heard, Penny. Well, let's see what we can teach them. Maybe they can teach us something, by the look of their clothing I'm guessing that they are magic fighters."

Ven nodded, and Jem proved it by snapping his fingers to create a small bolt of lighting that jumped to his shoulder, then disappeared. The newly founded group of teenagers walked out of the hotel room to go in the back ally. Practice would begin, but their training would have to be quick because their new adventure would start sooner than they thought.

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Riku and Xander sat outside of the city near a silver watered brook. They wanted to be alone, so they could think, and hardly anyone ever left the city. They both suspected that the heartless were back, and renewing their wrath upon the worlds.

"If there was only someway that I could warn Sora… but I don't even know where he is!" Riku said in frustration.

"All I know is that he left to search for you, and for king Mickey. But none of us on the island really had a clue as to where he was searching."

Riku splashed his hand through the water. "I feel so dumb! I can't do anything to help them… because half of me is stuck here… if only I knew how to leave this place, then maybe I could find Penny. Xander, what are we going to do?"

"I think that for now," Xander said, "we will have to wait and see what happens. We shouldn't worry ourselves, for now we should just keep checking your Membora to see if it will give us any clue as to what is happening."

Riku didn't say anything, but he knew it was the right decision. His brother was sort of the black sheep of the family. Sure, he had the trademark hair, but he acted differently. He had such intellect, it surpassed both Penny and Riku's. Even his parents. But it was often helpful, so nobody excluded him, and nobody teased him. He was still very much a part of the family.

Riku looked at his brother as a thought hit him. _I wonder what they thought of me… Penny and Xander. I wonder what they thought of me after they found out I had helped the darkness. That I had been completely consumed by the darkness, and taken away. I had helped steal the princesses, and Xander still accepts me. I almost killed Sora! I wonder what they all think of me still…_


	6. Armor?

**Disclaimer: I, the person who is writing under the name of Karin Starsen, am NOT stealing these characters. I am NOT stealing a story line, and I am most defiantly NOT stealing their creative worlds and creations. All of this does NOT belong to me… I am simply using there great creation to write my interpretation of a story. But I will NOT have anyone steal from ME either… thank you. **

**The only characters that I own are Jembore and his brother Venbar. Penny and Xander. Ask for permission to use them.**

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Their training was going well. Jem and Ven taught the girls well. Penny, much to her dislike, was now renamed icy. Her skill with blizzard magic was amazing, and her silver hair just emphasized the name. Kairi had mastered water, seeing as she was around it her whole life. Even though Jem and Ven knew all the spells weel, Jem specialized in lightning and Ven with fire. They were set for just about any elemental foe if they stayed together.

The teens were in the back ally of traverse town. Kairi practiced motions of attack with the water from the back ally sewer. Ven was having Penny destroy some boxes a little ways off. Though quiet, Ven seemed to be very helpful. _If he's anything like Jem, he probably is very helpful! Jem hasn't lost his temper with me once! Even after I accidentally soaked him with the water attack instead of hitting the target drawn on the wall… _She giggled to herself inside, but now she was concentrating on teaching Jem some skills with a long dagger. She let him use hers, because he didn't have one yet. _We'll have to get him one later. He's pretty good! If he got enough practice in as I have in the past, he'll pass me! It's like he was born to fight or something._

"…Kairi?" Jem said, for the third time. She shook her head out of thought and came back to reality. Jem had just cut a huge diagonal slash across the box. It was deep, and perfect. Had he really never used a knife before?

"Is that how I'm supposed to do it?" he asked. She looked him in the eyes, and he seemed to be series. "Urm, yeah. That's great! You're pretty good Jem. Maybe I'll get Penny to teach you how to use a whip." She smiled.

Jem smiled, then pointed over the Penny and Ven's training area. Ven was struggling through the motions. It was obvious he had never even seen a whip before Penny came along. Kairi couldn't help but giggle.

"Looks like Ven's already got his hands full with that one. I'll stick to the dagger for now."

Kairi nodded and was about to teach him something knew when the hair on the back of her neck flew to a straight, stiff, upward position. She shivered.

"What's wrong?" he asked with concern, standing and handing the knife back to Kairi, preparing for anything.

"Someone is watching us," she said quietly. "Can you see anyone behind me?"

"Nothing…" he looked over to Ven and Penny, she seemed to sense it too. "Something strange is going on… maybe we should head inside…"

Kairi nodded. "Hey, Penny. I think we've had enough training for now. We should move on… let's go inside and pack."

Penny turned, and put effort to getting a smile on to her face, trying to act natural. "Good idea, Kairi! Let's hurry!"

The teens practically ran inside to their room. Kairi was last and shut the door behind her. Instantly, the hair on the back of her neck fell back down.

"What was tha-"

But she couldn't finish her sentence, because in the room appeared a heartless. It leapt forward, and Kairi jumped out of the way, hitting it with her blade as it rushed past her.

"Hurry! Run!" she yelled. They were already out the door, and Kairi followed suite. She shut the door behind her, only to find another heartless in front of her. It was about to get her when a lighting bolt killed it. She looked up to so Jem turned around. "Come on!" he yelled. "Let's get out of here!"

He grabbed her hand and started running, and Kairi stayed up with him. _He saved me… _she thought. _But I can't think about that right now, I've got to keep running!_

She heard a fire blast from ahead and guessed that Ven was currently at work. Jem headed directly to the first district door, but Kairi turned around to see what was going on. She stopped and caused Jem to stop as well.

"What are you stopping for!" he cried. "We've got to get out of here, they can take care of themselves!"

"Look," Kairi pointed out.

Penny and Ven were currently in a ferocious battle with a gigantic heartless that looked like a suite of armor. _But how?... _she thought. _Sora killed you…_

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At the center of the far plain city, there was a beautiful town square. It was massive, large enough to hold half of the population at once. That meant it kept getting bigger. At the center was a fountain, it sprouted silver water that looked like liquid mercury. But it was always clean, and if you drank it, it tasted like sweet nectar. This is where Yuna, Rikku and Paine were.

Rikku and Yuna were playfully chasing eachother on the edge of the fountain, every once in a while flinging out their arms to regain their balance. Paine sat on a seat in the middle of the fountain, dipping her boots in the water. She smiled as she watched them play.

"Don't you two think that we should be, I don't know… working on how to solve this mystery?" Paine asked, breaking the mood.

Yuna, avoiding Rikku by leaping ahead, said, "Yeah, but just a second!"

"Yeah, come on Paine!" Rikku said, her old cheerful self. "We've worked our buts of for everyone else for… well, out whole lives! We're dead, can't we take a little break?"

"No," said Paine. "We had too much fun in our last job to say we need a break."

"Oh! Phooey!" Rikku huffed. She sat heavily on the edge of the fountain, crossing her legs underneath her. "Ruin my fun!"

Yuna sat a little ways from Rikku on the edge, also crossing her legs. "You could lighten up a little Paine… it's not like we've got anything to lose. You ruined our fun!" She smiled jokingly.

"That's what I'm here for," Paine replied, but couldn't hold back a faint smile in response.

"So, what do you think we should do? Where can we start?" Rikku asked, bobbing back and forth in her usual fashion.

"Do we have any leads, or clues?" Paine asked.

Yuna's finger went to her chin in thought. "Well, that was a fiend I had never seen before. It was strange… black, and it didn't seem to have… I don't know…"

"Oh! I know what you mean!" Rikku said, raising her hand enthusiastically. "Almost like… like it sort of wasn't there!"

"Like we were fighting a shadow…" Paine added quietly.

"Right."

"So what is it?"

"Well… that girl said that some sort of shield was around Spira. Since we knew the sorce, or the end of death's journey. All of our worlds were too different, so we couldn't let them know… as far as I understood. So… if the shield were to break, things from other worlds could find their way in," Yuna said. "So maybe that black fiend wasn't from our world."

"Or maybe, it wasn't even a fiend," Paine added.

Rikku's eyes widened. "If it wasn't a fiend, it was a really mean animal!"

"Or shadow… could it be a shadow of a real fiend out there? In a different world. Maybe the shield hasn't broken completely yet, and it can only let shadows through."

"Well, that's the best lead we have so far. But how do we figure out what it is?"

They sat in silence for a while. Rikku looked around, slightly zoning out. She looked at all the people. It was hard to believe that they were all from different worlds. Or they hadn't even heard of Spira!

Then it hit her. She waved her hands excitedly. "I know, I know! We can find people around here who aren't from Spira! Maybe if we describe what we saw to them, they'll know what it is! That way we can find out what world it came from!"

Paine's eyes widened. Yuna and Rikku looked to her. "What?" they asked simultaneously.

"Is it just me, or has dieing made Rikku smarter?"

"You big bully!" Rikku said punching her.

Then the three girls were off into the crowd, a huffy Rikku leading the way.


	7. 3rd defeat

**Disclaimer: I, the person who is writing under the name of Karin Starsen, am NOT stealing these characters. I am NOT stealing a story line, and I am most defiantly NOT stealing their creative worlds and creations. All of this does NOT belong to me… I am simply using there great creation to write my interpretation of a story. But I will NOT have anyone steal from ME either… thank you. **

**The only characters that I own are Jembore and his brother Venbar. Penny and Xander. Ask for permission to use them.**

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Tidus saw Yuna, Rikku, and Paine at the fountain. He couldn't bring up the courage to walk over. Yuna had changed so much… he couldn't tell if it was just her outward image… or if it was really all of her that had changed. _Lulu had said that Yuna didn't really talk about me all that much anymore, but sometimes she got a distant look in her eyes. As if she was missing something, and she couldn't find it in her mind. I know how she feels…_ Tidus thought.

He was about to step out when the girls suddenly stood. Yuna had a huge smile on her face, and Rikku jumped excitedly in the air. They had a mission. They all got up and walked in separate directions. They seemed to be choosing people at random. He could see them saying, "Excuse me!" then rambling on about something. He didn't know what… But he wanted to know. They girls spread further and further, and then they started down separate streets. Tidus decided that if he wanted to know what they were talking about he would have to ask one of them, and the only one that had never met him before was Paine. He walked forward and headed down the street she chose.

When he found her again, she was talking to a little girl. The little girl frowned, and then shook her head. Paine stood and nodded, then the girl ran off with her friends. Tidus took a deep breath and stepped forward.

"Excuse me?" he asked.

Paine whirled around and gave him a weird look. Then her eyes grew wider. "Shuyin?" she asked.

"Who?" Tidus was puzzled.

Her face returned to normal. "Oh… never mind, you just looked like somebody I knew… well, what do you want?"

"Urm, what are you asking all these people about? That little girl for instance?"

"I was wondering if they had ever seen a black fiend before. A fiend with a large hole in it, sort of like the shape of a heart. It's huge."

"I'm sorry, but I've never seen anything like that. Not here, or when I was alive."

"Oh, thanks." She turned around, and left. Tidus wanted to stop her and ask about Yuna, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Besides, she was already talking to somebody else. Tidus shook his head, then went back home. He thought about what she asked while he was leaving.

_A fiend? That killed all three of them. I don't know what it could have been. We all traveled all over Spira, and we never saw anything like that. I'll go back and ask Lulu. She'll know what to do._

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Kairi ignored Jem. She ran forward to the fiend that Sora had killed not only once, but twice. It's thick suit of armor looked impenetrable, but she knew otherwise. Her dagger glowed brilliantly in the moonlight as she started to attack the body of the heartless.

Jem was right after her, attacking the hands with lightning attacks, and a few fire ones here and there. Kairi added a small water one once in a while, but mainly kept to her dagger. Ven and Penny each had a foot, Penny jumping just out of reach then snapping it with her whip.

All of a sudden, the large body twisted. Kairi was hit and blood started running down her leg. She yelled, but staggered forward anyway. Her long dagger penetrating the steal of the heartless. Her leg suddenly felt better, and she realized that Penny had used a potion on her.

"Thanks!" she yelled back.

"No problem!" replied Penny, jumping by her. Soon both the feet and one hand were destroyed. Ven and Penny went to the other hand, and Jem came to help finish of the body of armor. It was over soon enough. The armor broke, and its heart flew into the air. A white glow was left in its place. The glow slowly floated down, and it embedded itself into Kairi's dagger. Kairi was amazed by the sight. Her dagger now gave of a faint glow, even if the moon was behind the clouds. It felt lighter in her hands, and somehow more powerful. Then her body felt cured, and pure. The others were amazed as well.

"Ouch!" Penny cried. She just realized that her forehead was bleeding. Jem was about to toss her a potion when Kairi inturupted him.

"Wait!" she said. They all looked at her like she was crazy. "I think that I just learned how to use Cure…"

She spun the dagger, then held it out pointed at Penny. The white light swirled around her arm, into the dagger, then swirled around Penny. In a moment, Penny was cured. The bleeding had stopped and the cut was gone.

"Cool!" Penny said. "Now we don't need to spend as much money on potions! Alright Kairi!"

They all smiled, even though none of them felt happy. Something was going horribly wrong with all of their worlds. They needed to figure it out soon, or else the universe could die.

"So… where to next?" asked Kairi.

"I don't know. I think we should go find Leon…" Jem said.

Kairi looked up quickly. "You know Leon?"

Jem smiled. "Yeah… he's out cousin."

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YRP met back at their house. They all sighed and plopped into a chair, or on the floor. Yuna lay spread across the couch.

"Gosh! So many people! I'll have faces flashing through my dreams for weeks, and I won't even know who they are!" Yuna said.

"I know," Paine replied. "But I got some information."

The other two sat up quickly with interest. "Really?"

"Yeah. Some man… he said he was from a place called Traverse Town. This creature I explained, he said it sounded a lot like a Heartless. World hopping evil…. Things…. They steal worlds hearts or something. But he said that the key bearer had destroyed the heartless, or the leader Ansem, years ago. This kid named Sora."

"Ansem!" Yuna cried. "He was the first person that I met here! But… he wasn't evil. Or maybe he was once… but he isn't now. I saw it in his eyes."

"I think that we should pay this Ansem a visit," Rikku chimed in.

"Tomorrow," Paine said. "I need sleep." And with that, she closed her eyes. Yuna and Rikku didn't complain. It was night anyway, they went off to their rooms, and fell asleep.


End file.
